


Memory Lane

by unwillingadventurer



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwillingadventurer/pseuds/unwillingadventurer
Summary: Ian visits the Thirteenth Doctor and she offers him one last trip.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 68





	Memory Lane

**Author's Note:**

> Continuing on from 'The Waiting Room'.

Ian hesitated as he walked along the embankment, staring at the blue box as it stood ahead of him, unnoticed by the crowds who had passed by— talking to one another or staring at their phones, wearing headphones, or watching the view. No one knew of its significance— but to this old man who had seen so much— it meant everything. Over fifty years ago he had stood with Barbara, looking at a real police box in that exact spot. Having fun, posing outside, they were home and happy, but now it was the real TARDIS again and he approached it tentatively. He reached out his frail hands and touched the doors just to be certain. It was definitely alive in there. He could feel the vibration. He knocked gently but no answer. Perhaps he was wrong, perhaps she hadn’t arrived yet. Maybe this was just an old police box. He knocked a second time and suddenly the door opened and three very different faces appeared around the door frame at different heights.

“Watch’ya, cockle?” Graham said cheerily.

“Who’s he?” Ryan said.

“He’s Ian, the Doc’s old pal.”

“Why don’t you come in?” Yaz said with a broad smile.

Ryan helped Ian into the main console room where the old man now stood gazing around in awe as the yellow and orange light greeted his eyes. There was warmth in the interior but also a coldness in the blue. It was so different from the room he was used to, so much going on, so much chaos and machinery.

“It’s very busy,” he noted.

Ryan reached out his hand. “I’m Ryan, this is Yaz.”

Ian shook the young man’s hand. “So, you’re Graham’s grandson? Very nice to meet you both. I suppose you must be the new companions.”

“Yes, but we call ourselves fam,” Yaz told him.

Ian laughed. “I see. We were like a family too. It’s always best to have a strong group huddled around that console I always say.”

“Have to agree with you there, Chesterfield,” the Doctor said, suddenly appearing into the room, wearing large goggles. “The more the merrier I say.”

“Do you?” Ian laughed again. “I see you’ve also traded your monocle for some goggles, Doctor?”

“Oh these? Yeah, carrying out some repairs, as you do.”

Ian winked. “Still needs them eh?” 

“You would not believe the upkeep.”

Graham pointed at one of the steps. “Sit yourself down, old son. We don’t have any chairs knocking about but…”

“Chairs are old news, Graham,” the Doctor reminded him.

Ian and Graham sat down together whilst Ryan and Yaz sat on one of the other steps.

“So, you were the Doctor’s companion back in the day?” Ryan asked.

“I was.”

“What was it like?” Yaz said.

“Oh, it was so long ago, travelling with my wife Barbara. Though she wasn’t my wife then.”

“Did you fall in love in space?” Yaz began, “that’s really awesome.”

“We did.”

“How did you leave?” Ryan asked. “It’s a hard thing to say goodbye to, even when you want it.”

Ian wondered why there was so many questions. “We didn’t have control of the ship in those days. Every trip was an uncertainty. The only way Barbara and I could return home was inside a Dalek time machine of all places.”

“Blimey, Doc, you didn’t get Ian home yourself?” Graham said.

The Doctor frowned. “I was inexperienced! Anyway, they got home in one piece, didn’t they? No burnt cinders in Spain.”

“Sometimes you have to take the chance when the time feels right,” Ian said, looking at Ryan, noticing in his expression, the same sense of longing for roots and somewhere to belong. “You’ll know when it’s time.”

“So, Chesterton,” said the Doctor, interrupting. “I was wondering whether you might like one last trip?”

“I don’t know about that at my age.”

“Not whizzing about, don’t worry. I meant a trip to see Barbara. I shouldn’t really, personal timelines and all that but just one trip, one moment. I allowed Graham to see Grace one last time, it helps I’m told. I could do the same for you as long as you don’t talk to her or interact in any way. Just observe.”

Ian thought for a moment. So many thoughts were whirling around his brain, so many feelings in his heart, so much missing within his soul. “I could really see her?”

“Just pick any point of her life. We hide, you watch.”

When Ian’s eyes began to tear-up, Graham put his hand on his shoulder. “Come on, mate, it’ll be alright.”

“If you’d like us to give you some time alone,” Yaz added.

Smiling, Ian nodded. “Thank you, yes, if I could just…look alone, with you, Doctor, we two who knew her best.”

“Which year do you want?” the Doctor asked.

Ian thought for a moment. “I know. November the 23rd 1963.”

The Doctor’s eyebrow rose. “Quite significant date that.”

“What happened on November 23rd 1963?” Ryan asked.

“Wasn’t that when Kennedy was assassinated?” Yaz asked.

“Kennedy was the day before that,” Graham added.

“You were there then eh Grandad? Remember it well?” Ryan said.

“Yes, thank you, I was barely out of nappies as it happens, so no, not much remembering.”

“I remember it,” the Doctor added. “I was there, in Dallas.”

The others exchanged glances and then looked at her.

“How close?” Graham asked.

“Not that close. Anyway, 23rd was the day I met Ian and Barbara,” the Doctor began. “A very big deal. Totally big deal. Bit nervous about re-visiting such an important event to be honest.”

“It was the beginning of it all for Barbara and me. I’d like to see it one last time,” Ian said.

“Well then, your wish is my command.” She flipped a switch and then glanced at the scanner. “Here we are. 1963. Totter’s Lane by the looks of it. This takes me back alright.” She showed her arm to Yaz. “See, hairs standing on end.”

Yaz smiled, always enamoured when the Doctor was passionate about something and then she, Ryan and Graham watched as the Doctor and Ian left the TARDIS.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Yaz asked.

“Yeah, he’s a tough old geezer,” Graham added.

“So, he’s the first of us?” Ryan said as he watched the Doctor and Ian on the scanner screen. “The first human friend the Doctor made?”

Graham took a custard cream from the dispenser on the console. “Apparently so, son. Him and Barbara got suspicious of the Doc.”

“Yeah, I asked the Doctor. She told me they were really nosy and she kind of accidentally took off with them inside,” Yaz said.

“Accidentally?” Ryan’s eyebrow rose.

Graham laughed and nibbled on his custard cream. “Cor this don’t half need a dunk. Anyone fancy a cuppa?”

“Yes, please, Graham, peppermint,” Yaz said.

“Builder’s tea, please,” Ryan added.

“Oh, designated tea maker now, am I? Charming!”

…

Stepping out to the 23rd November 1963, Ian and the Doctor were watching carefully, hidden behind a car parked on Totter’s Lane. Ian gasped as his old car pulled up on the road and stopped.

“My god, we’ve arrived,” Ian whispered. “And it’s her.”

His eyes ignored his younger self and instead focused on Barbara as she sat in the passenger seat having the discussion about Susan. He could almost hear it even though he could only see their lips moving. It was like watching an old film with the sound off, but that you’d seen before and remembered the dialogue.

He turned to the Doctor. “It’s her, it’s really her! Isn’t she beautiful? It’s strange, Doctor. Because I experienced this moment, and now I’m here as if I’m a bystander.”

“Take a leaf out of my very first page of my very first book, Ian, observe only.” 

But Ian walked two paces toward the car, the only remnant of their disappearance that night. They continued to watch as young Ian and Barbara climbed out of the car and seemed to be shrouded in a blanket of fog. Ian smiled to himself. He hadn’t remembered the fog. Such a small detail but it created such an atmosphere. Susan had liked the fog. She had called it mysterious. How right she had been.

“This is it,” Ian said, “this big moment. Once Barbara goes inside the junkyard, that’s the last I’ll ever see of her.”

“’fraid so.”

He looked intently at Barbara’s face. How he missed it— how he missed those eyes, how he had forgotten her voice. And then he couldn’t help but look at his younger self too, just for a second. It felt a different person standing there in another lifetime he had somehow forgotten. 

“I suppose this feeling isn’t the same for you, is it?” Ian said. “It’s like I’m looking at another life.”

“Not exactly the same, but I have that feeling too, like this is the start of something. My past is very complicated. But this, this small moment, I’ve never seen this part up close but it sets off a chain of events that gets bigger and bigger. I need popcorn really. I’ve never seen you do this bit. Chesterton, you and Barbara started it all, right now. I’m getting serious chills.”

But as they spoke, the Foreman Junkyard doors creaked open and the two younger teachers disappeared inside to begin their journey in time and space.

“She’s gone again.” Ian’s voice cracked as he felt his knees weaken. He collapsed slowly to the floor, onto his knees and started to weep.

A tear formed in the Doctor’s eye and she put her hand awkwardly on his shoulder. “Come on, Chesterton, come on.”

Suddenly the TARDIS doors opened and out stepped Graham, having seen what happened on the scanner. He clung onto Ian and helped him to his feet.

“Come on, old son, let’s get you inside.”

Ian embraced Graham then, crying onto his shoulder, taking comfort with a man who knew his grief. The Doctor glanced sadly at Yaz who was standing in the doorway of the TARDIS with a reassuring smile only for her. 

When they were inside, Ryan handed Ian a cup of tea and Yaz placed a blanket around Ian’s shoulders.

“You alright?” Yaz asked.

“Thank you dear,” he said, wiping away a tear. “I’m sorry about that everyone. Emotions got the better of me.”

“Better out than in, mate,” Graham said. 

The Doctor laughed. “At least you’re not a Cyberman. Ian, what you need right now though is a custard cream. Can’t solve all your problems but it is pretty darn good.”

“Biscuits? My Doctor would never have given me a biscuit.”

“I’d forgotten that. How did I survive without a biscuit dispenser?” The Doctor shuffled awkwardly on the spot, looking down at her boots. “I’m sorry it wasn’t the best trip down memory lane for you, Ian. I know how important Barbara was to you. To me too. Totter’s Lane was perhaps a bad choice.”

“No Doctor. It was one last chance. Thank you. That night when we went to the junkyard, I was going to ask Barbara out on a date and I suppose I got my wish in a sense.”

“Pretty dangerous first date,” Ryan said. 

“Sounds fantastic,” said Yaz.

“Cavemen aren’t so romantic,” he chuckled. “But that adventure started our relationship. And my relationship with you too, Doctor. I couldn’t understand you at first but it didn’t take long to soften you up, did it?”

The Doctor waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, get out of it! Barbara was the one who could get me to do anything. She fluttered those eyelashes and paid me a compliment and well…”

“Vicki had the power too.”

“Ah yes, little Vicki, partner in crime, my little Cressida. What legacies you leave behind. Barbara a god, you a knight of the realm.”

“You were knighted?” Graham asked.

“By King Richard, lionheart himself.” Ian nodded, proudly, trying not to boast.

“I’ve been knighted too, by old Queen Vic, the person, not the pub,” the Doctor said. “Ian did beat me to it but I got there eventually. Not that I care about accolades and honours of course.”

Yaz laughed and smirked at the others. “Of course.”

“You three to leave next,” the Doctor said, looking at her fam sadly.

“Don’t say that,” Yaz said. “We’re your mates. I’m not going anywhere.”

The Doctor paused for a moment and then suddenly flipped a switch on the console and brought the machine back to life. “Well that’s another day. Time to get old Chesterbrook home before its two years and his family wonder where he’s gone.”

“Chesterbrook,” Ian repeated with a smile. He suddenly without warning, threw his arms around the Doctor so she was held in a tight embrace. Her arms flailed slightly and she didn’t know how to respond. Finally, she found she rather enjoyed it and tapped his back softly with her hands. 

“Stay strong, Chesterton,” she whispered.

“Will do. Keep travelling Doctor, be hopeful.” He turned to her companions. “Good luck. Look after her and yourselves.”

When Ian finally departed the TARDIS and the fam set off for another adventure, Graham turned to look at the others. “Now he is what we call an old school legend.”

“Proper respect for him,” Ryan said.

“Wonder what he’ll do now,” Yaz said.

“He’ll live his last few years in peace,” the Doctor added. “And I’ll remember him... and all the others…forever.”


End file.
